Windows ... Mine Need Cleaning

Did you ever wonder who comes up with the names of things?  And why they called it that?  I don't, simply because I've got too much stuff in my tiny brain already.  When you talk Windows, I always think "mine need to be washed".  

When my friend called to say a package I ordered had arrived (still no mailbox and some things can't be shipped to P O boxes), she asked me about Windows on her computer.  It was a really long time ago I had to deal with THAT kind of window.

When I first went to work for the County, the computer was housed in a room as big as my house.  You had to put on a coat to enter, since they kept it at a lovely 45 degrees.  We had huge desk-like contraptions that held a monitor and a large square box, which we stuffed with three floppy disks, one at a time since there was only one slot.  Thirty minutes later we would insert a blank disk, where we would save all the data.

When Windows came along, computers had progressed, giving us one screen with many windows into the programs we wanted to use.  It was pretty simple back then ... nowadays it's MUCH more complicated.  So when my friend asked me to help her get 5,000 pictures off her old broken machine and put them on her new laptop, I agreed.  How hard can it be?  I used Windows for over 30 years.  I've got this!!

Well at least I got the folder open where all her pictures were.  I blame it all on Windows since where you find things has changed so much over the years.  Nothing is where it used to be, except Control Alt Delete ... my favorite key stroke.  Delete Delete Delete!!!

Here's the thing ... she would hook up her phone to the computer and it would automatically download every one of her 5,000 pictures ... EVERY SINGLE TIME.  Will she just delete those folders?  Heavens no ... there might be ONE picture that she wants to save.  

That's when I discovered she probably has well over 50,000 pictures on her computer.  No wonder it doesn't work.  So the first step was getting her phone settings straight and going through those 5,000 pictures.  The second step was to go on her old computer and gingerly survey one folder at a time, moving those images she wants to save to a NEW folder, then just deleting the old folder completely.  It's MUCH faster that way.  Still, a pretty daunting task!!

Why not just use a hard drive, copy everything and move it to her new computer?  For one, her old computer is too old for that, and she would then have the same mess on her new one.

The third step will be to copy those NEW folders to a thumb drive, then download them on her new computer.  While surveying the damage and how to make this happen a little faster, something dawned on us.  Do you treasure the pictures of your Grandparents?  Do you like to thumb through your baby pictures?  Or maybe your vacation pictures?  Well here's the thing ... your kids and grandkids will never be able to do that, since no one has pictures printed any more.  Photo albums are a thing of the past and how many times have you gone through the pictures on your computer?

Here's Diane's solution to that problem.  She is taking the best of the best pictures, going through her "windows" and having books made online.  It's really rather inexpensive and her family is crazy about them.  I thought that was a pretty good idea and the perfect Christmas gift.

The other thing she does is create her Christmas cards online, using some of her pictures.  It happens the one above is a water color painting ... my next project, since I STILL haven't found macrame cord.  Maybe I could have them done by NEXT Christmas.  If not, that's your Christmas card!!  Merry Merry!!!

I'm going to go contemplate washing my windows.